Courses

PSH-P150

1 credit(s)

Course Chair: Carl Riley

Semesters Offered: Fall, Spring

Required of: None

Electable by: All

Prerequisites: None

Department Code: PERF

Location: Boston Campus

Whether using drumsticks, picking a guitar string, or using breath to sing, music is created by movement. Music is movement. The human body moves to create the sound waves that move through the air. We all have a picture of our bodies in our mind called a body map. This map guides every movement we make. If this picture is accurate then our movement will be free, efficient and effective. When our maps are inaccurate or unclear, movement can become labored and lead to injuries. Body mapping is a highly effective process for learning healthy, efficient, and effective physical motion. In this class you will work towards a fully realized understanding of your own physical structure so your movement will be healthy and your motion free. As a result, you will produce a better, more open, more resonant sound.

PSH-P260

1 credit(s)

Course Chair: Carl Riley

Semesters Offered: Fall, Spring

Required of: None

Electable by: All

Prerequisites: None

Department Code: BASS

Location: Boston Campus

Tai Chi Chuan, or "Grand Ultimate Fist," is a moving meditation/exercise/martial art that can complement and energize your studies, music, and all the activities of your busy day. Traditionally, it is an internal "yin" fighting style that develops grounding, relaxation, and the ability to utilize the attacker's own power to subdue them. It is also a constantly evolving art/science that promotes physical, mental, and emotional balance, and is a useful tool for identifying playing-related tension patterns and opening constricted channels of the body. Tai Chi Chuan is a slow, flowing, no-sweat exercise with excellent health benefits that requires no uniforms or equipment, a moderate amount of floor space to perform, and no opponent to compete against except yourself. This course will lead you through the first 20 postures of the 60-movement form developed by Grandmaster William C. C. Chen. Once the complete choreography is learned, this short form could be incorporated into your daily routine and would require only a few minutes to complete.

PSH-P262

2 credit(s)

Course Chair: Carl Riley

Semesters Offered: Spring Only

Required of: None

Electable by: All

Prerequisites: None

Department Code: PERF

Location: Boston Campus

Tai chi can provide you with a way to maintain your sanity and health throughout life, both as a musician and as the person you are. The twelve moves of Integral Tai Chi will help you to stay grounded and will contribute to enhancing your creative and musical self. This course will explore the fundamentals of Integral Tai Chi, a system based on martial arts, yet tailored into a gentle, graceful set of movements. Tai chi is performed more slowly, more as a meditative form of exercise. Students will learn these twelve moves in a progressive method, enabling anyone to perform each movement at their own level of comfort. The course will also focus on breathing and awareness techniques to increase the flow of chi throughout one's system, promoting emotional balance, mental clarity, and an optimum physical state. Recent studies have shown physiological benefits include stress reduction, pain reduction, regulation of the lymphatic system, regulation of blood pressure, increased immunity against invasive disease, and more. By the end of the course, students will be more able to conduct the inner orchestra of their mind, body, heart, and spirit through a state of relaxed awareness.

PSH-P360

1 credit(s)

Course Chair: Carl Riley

Semesters Offered: Fall, Spring

Required of: None

Electable by: All

Prerequisites: PSH-P260

Department Code: PERF

Location: Boston Campus

With a firm foundation of the principles learned and practiced in PSH-P260 Tai Chi Chuan for Musicians 1, this course goes deeper into the art of tai chi and and its many benefits. Students learn additional postures and two-person push hands (also called sensing hands), and further refine their body mechanics. Students move with internal energy while differentiating this energy from locked-in muscle tension. This course emphasizes how the sensitivity acquired through this practice relates to healthier technique, performance, and endurance. Students review the first 20 postures of the 60 movement form from PSH-P260 Tai Chi Chuan for Musicians 1 and learn the remaining 40. Once the complete choreography is learned, this entire sequence can be incorporated into a daily wellness practice to support overall health and well-being in a short amount of time.

Exploration of the relationship between improvisation and harmonic context. Analysis of harmonically sophisticated music using analytical techniques from HR-212. The use of chord scales in improvisation and analysis of recorded jazz solos. Discussion of specific harmonic idioms and their related improvising styles. Solos of John Coltrane, Herbie Hancock, Woody Shaw, and other influential soloists.

PSHR-322

2 credit(s)

Course Chair: Carl Riley

Semesters Offered: Fall, Spring

Required of: None

Electable by: All

Prerequisites: PSHR-321

Department Code: PERF

Location: Boston Campus

Continued exploration of the relationship between improvisation and harmonic context. Analysis of contemporary compositions and their harmonic implications applied to the craft of improvisation. Symmetrical scales, two- and three-tonic systems, and rhythm devices. Repertoire studied will include solos by John Coltrane, Dave Liebman, Ornette Coleman, Steve Grossman, and Herbie Hancock.

PSHR-P270

1 credit(s)

Course Chair: David Wallace

Semesters Offered: Fall, Spring

Required of: None

Electable by: All

Prerequisites: None

Department Code: STRG

Location: Boston Campus

This course will introduce students to the theory of musical cultures in the eastern Mediterranean basin and North Africa. Course work will include listening and analysis, in-class performance on instruments and voice, and theoretical analysis of the maqam system, modulation, and improvisational schemes. The course will include also learning iqa, the complex rhythmic modes that go hand in hand with forms based on the maqam.

PSIJ-211

2 credit(s)

Course Chair: Carl Riley

Semesters Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer

Required of: None

Electable by: All

Prerequisites: None

Department Code: PERF

Location: Boston Campus

A lecture class with discussion, illustration, and demonstration of the various techniques used in jazz improvisation. Each class will introduce specific practice techniques that can be used to develop the craft of jazz improvisation. Included will be discussion of different jazz styles along with recordings and transcriptions of major jazz figures. This course is highly recommended for students considering any of the jazz improvisation classes or who would like to begin to develop the language used in jazz improvisation.

Building and retaining a functional repertoire of approximately 30 selected standards and jazz standards that form a common vocabulary and basis for study among jazz musicians. Development of skills to effectively memorize the melody, harmony, and rhythm of selected repertoire. Recommended for students who plan to take jazz improvisation techniques courses.

PSIJ-216

2 credit(s)

Course Chair: Ron Savage

Semesters Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer

Required of: None

Electable by: All

Prerequisites: Overall ensemble rating 3

Department Code: ENS

Location: Boston Campus

A sequel to PSIJ-215, this course continues the process of building and retaining a functional repertoire of jazz standards in bebop, Latin, ballad, and contemporary styles. Continued development of memorization skills applied to learning to play and improvise on approximately 30 tunes. Recommended for students who plan to take jazz improvisation techniques courses.

PSIJ-221

2 credit(s)

Course Chair: Ron Savage

Semesters Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer

Required of: None

Electable by: All

Prerequisites: Overall ensemble rating 3

Department Code: ENS

Location: Boston Campus

An ideal follow-up to PSIJ-211, this performance-centered class introduces basic skills essential to effective improvisation. Techniques covered include memorization procedure for song melody and harmony, listening skills, exercise design, pacing, chord tone soloing, tempo accuracy, swing rhythmic feel, melodic and rhythmic embellishment of song melody, and soloing with full rhythm section accompaniment. Development of effective practice skills. Music from various periods of jazz (swing, bop, postbop, contemporary) will be used for demonstration, practice, and performance activities. Classes are leveled and instrumentally balanced; students perform weekly.

PSIJ-255

2 credit(s)

Course Chair: Carl Riley

Semesters Offered: Fall, Spring

Required of: None

Electable by: All

Prerequisites: HR-212 and overall ensemble rating 5

Department Code: PERF

Location: Boston Campus

Historic, stylistic, and performance-based overview of the compositions and improvisations of Wayne Shorter, covering the period from the late 1950s to the present. Basis of study will include solo transcriptions, scores, videos, and extensive listening. Also covered will be Shorter's extramusical interests, including art and sci-fi movies, and their influence on, and integration into, his music. The student will transcribe solos and analyze compositions, and perform or present them in class.